4 Tips to Writing Gothic Fantasy
I have always had a soft spot for Gothic or dark fantasy. Whether it is the romance of Wuthering Heights, the speculative science of Frankenstein, the horror of Dracula, or contemporary renditions of the genre such as Anne Rice, Shirley Jackson, Silvia Morena-Garcia, Neil Gaiman, and scores of others, the allure of drawing from the dark well of dread and terror continues to capture my imagination and attention. So, when I first took up the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2012 and began writing what would become The Carnivale of Curiosities, it was to the Gothic that I turned for inspiration. But where to begin…
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First, you must know and understand the characteristics of writing a Gothic story.
Tip one: Choose the proper place/setting/environment.
Where you choose to set your story is going to help define the entire book, from the characters and their relationships to setting the mood. So much of what makes a Gothic novel work are in the details of the environment, to the point that the setting itself becomes a character with its own personality. Traditionally, the setting would be a remote castle or crumbling estate: isolated, dangerous, and often set in another time.
This is the route I took by using Victorian London as my setting, specifically the squalid slums of Southwark; a place that offered decay and isolation despite the claustrophobic closeness of the rookeries and the filthy grease in the air that permeated everything from buildings to lungs. The setting should inspire awe as well as dread either in its splendor or its disrepair. The idea of ruin, of a fall, in either nature or status, reflects not only the environment but the individuals as well.
Which leads to tip two: Ensure that the past intrudes on or colors the present.
A huge part of crafting a Gothic work is that the events of the past continue to haunt and guide the present. This can be looked at as a curse or more commonly the butterfly effect. One fateful act or decision made by a grandparent affects the lives of generations to come. We are all products of the past, and while the present and the future are mutable, the past is eternal.
When plotting your story, look to your characters’ histories, to their relatives or companions. Look to those historic motivations and decide how that comes into play with the actions presented today. This also ties back to setting and environment, in that the buildings often portray the physical aspects of decay and former promise left to ruin. No matter how many times you spruce up a house, if there are cracks in the foundation, it is only a matter of time until it crumbles to the ground—that is the inherent threat of the past.
In my own work, the present is deeply rooted in what came before, with several characters suffering the repercussions of events that happened when very young, and in one instance before they were born: much due to nefarious deals.
Enter tip three: Introduce the supernatural.
Half of the fun of writing a Gothic work is the opportunity to delve into the weird. Whether ghosts or vampires or demonic possession, dark fantasy opens the door for wherever your imagination wants to take you. This is an opportunity to explore what scares you, and then to use that fear through whichever mechanism you wish.
Fear in the form of a monster often becomes a vehicle for a reflection or rejection of a moral mindset, which provokes questions of consciousness and consequences of our actions. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein remains the flag bearer of science unbound and our responsibilities therein, be it morally, physically, spiritually, for our creations. The “monster” can reflect our own repression or what has been repressed in us by society. Sometimes the monster is society itself. The “monster” can be our own misguided wishes and desires, that can prompt the deal with the devil. The Faustian bargain has long enthralled me, and that was the vehicle I chose as a motivation in my own work.
Dreams, visions, prophecies, or any manner of psychological terrors can come into play as well. The threat of madness, of things completely outside of our control and the anxiety that it breeds, feeds into the overall scope of Gothic writing. And while such things as premature burial are not common tropes today, the idea of being trapped, isolated without any foreseeable way out of a situation remains equally terrifying.
Which leads to tip four: Subvert the genre.
The term “damsel in distress” is a common trope throughout Gothic literature, but by today’s sensibilities it is less appealing, which for me offered a great opportunity for subversion. The brooding male character still exists—the romantic Byronic hero is not going anywhere. However, he is no longer guaranteed to save the damsel.
Now we have female characters that—following a spate of obstacles—find out that she can save herself and often save her male counterpart as well. Women have become their own heroes; the final girl saves the day. When I considered the period setting of my own work, I decided to maintain many of the classic elements, but flip the story one way. The “damsel in distress” in my novel starts out in an expected role, but as the story grows, she carves out a new path for herself, by taking control of her life. With a little help from the supernatural, she can find her true self.
When it comes to writing within a specific genre, there are no hard and fast set of rules. The idea of Gothic fantasy is more a scaffolding to build your story from. Relish in its decaying glory, explore the setting, luxuriate in words and atmosphere, and make it your own. And always, always have fun. This is your world for the making, enjoy every minute of it.
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